Petrostates need to bridge $9 trillion income gap in energy transition: Report

New Delhi, Feb 11 : Oil and gas producing countries face a multi-trillion dollar hole in government revenues over the next 20 years as the world decarbonises, with some needing strong international support to diversify their economies and avoid social and political instability, said a report from Carbon Tracker on Thursday.
For the first time it calculates that 40 petrostates could face an average 46 per cent drop in expected revenues from oil and gas if demand falls in line with tightening global climate policy and technological advances leading to a shortfall of $9 trillion.
Over 400 million people live in the 19 worst affected countries where declining fossil fuel revenues could see total government income fall by at least 20 per cent, leading to cuts in public services and job losses.
Half live in Nigeria, where a 70 per cent drop in oil revenues would cut total government income by a third. Angola, home to 33 million, could lose over 40 per cent of government income.
Many of the world’s biggest oil and gas producers including the US, the UK, the Netherlands, China, India and Brazil also face major falls in revenues but they are not a focus of the analysis because their economies are less dependent on oil and gas.
Worldwide, all oil producing countries risk collectively losing $13 trillion by 2040 compared with industry expectations, a 51 per cent drop.